After 4 hours dealing with the problem , I finally found a solution !
FORGET ALL THE PREVIOUS TIPS
this is the DRIVER of your internal soundcard , RESTORE the previous DRIVER and thats all ! the latest windows update is the culprit . I just do this and now my export sound exactly the same in my daw and in my computer in a wave file, whatever reader I use .
I know this this an older thread but I am running into the exact same problem. Whether its uploaded to Google drive, or played back through windows groove music; it sounds… worse.
Playback inside of Cubase sounds great, or it at least sounds like I made it sound. I can reimport the bounce and it matches my submix/stereo out. Basically tho, playback anywhere but my DAW sounds, to my ears, worse.
Its happening to ME TO!
Hello to all still on this topic. Im one of the persons
still stuck on this audio mixdown problems. I tried most things people said
on this topic ( And much thanks to all people who put in the effort to help us).
But stil… the problem stays. I dont use a audio interface like steinberg UR12,
But getting this on Cubase 6, will it have a chance to resolve the problem?
i have the same issue, dissapointment after creating the mixdown, only player where it sounds the same as in Cubase DAW is wavelab .
Are you exporting to 24 bits? If so, try exporting to 16 bits. Some playback software may be bad at decoding 24-bit files.
Also, try exporting to MP3 at 320 kbps bit rate. It’s not “perfect,” but all decoders should decode it more or less exactly the same.
If neither of those work, then the problem is very likely a difference between audio driver path in ASIO (cubase/wavelab) versus “other software” (system driver/path.)
You might want to take some song you usually listen to using “other software,” and import it into wavelab or cubase, and play it from there, and see if the sound changes.
Also, commonly, a mixing engineer will take a mix to a variety of places (we used to use casette tapes in a car stereo, or a boom box, back in the day) to figure out how normal human beings who don’t pay $20,000 for a speaker setup will hear it. Learning to mix for translation is a skill that needs practice. This may or may not be relevant in this particular case.
i export mp3 at 320, wve to 16 bits, a many others combination, but i tried today play the exported audio on my mobile phone and it is ok , so it seems, the audio driver on windows on my laptop is definitely failing to play it correctly, this is comfirmed by the fact that from cubase and from wavelab the playback is ok, so the cubase and wavelab use asio driver, which is ok
Bummer! At least you know what’s going on then.
Hello. I’m having the same problem. After exporting the audio it just sounds good on headphones.
On headphones the exported project sounds the same as the original.
But the sound in the speakers loses quality. When you put another song everything is normal. When I import the project back into cubase it has the same quality.
In short, the sound is the same after being exported listening with headphones, listening without headphones loses a lot of quality.
I appreciate the help.
Thanks.
Thanks for the reply, will try to do that. But will exporting in mp3 format not be a much lower quality than wav?
Yeah well said about the mixing, that makes a lot of difference. But for me if I export every audio track apart, they all sound less grand than in Cubase, so a mixing engineer would start with a lower quality anyway. Might be wat you say about the ASIO and system driver software, but im not that techy to fix that prob. Frustrating to the max this is.
First: Most people, in most listening environments, for most songs, do no better than random at guessing which version in 320 kbit MP3 and which version is red book audio. So, “much lower quality” depends on what measure of “quality” you use. 320 kbit MP3 is very good for listening to finished mixes of most kinds of music for most people in most listening situations.
Second: The reason I suggested trying MP3 instead of WAV or AIFF, was to control for player/decoder variability, separate from other listening variables, such as sound drivers and hardware, which seemed to be the issue here in the end. So, even if you think it’s lower quality for your material in your listening environment, it’s still helpful as a control for what does and does not affect this particular problem.
Finally: Most music is enjoyed on mobile phones through apps like Spotify or Youtube, which can end up using encodings like AAC/96 kbit, or AC3/160 kbit, after which it’s transcoded for wireless Bluetooth earbuds. If you’re making music for “normal people” in “normal environments” you’ll probably want to make sure that your final product sounds OK under those conditions, even if it doesn’t sound the same as the 96 kHz / 24 bit master on your full-range room monitors.
Well ive got the same problem and this 2022,its caused by the media player that you use to play back the song.
Take any wav or mp3 play it on windows media player then play it on vlc media player,huge difference in the sound between the two media players.Youve got to choose some kind of media player,i guess most people use windows media player and the default eq is flat,what player and eq setting do we use for play back Your guess is as good as mine.
Can you tell me what version of driver you rolled it back to as I am having this exact issue?
Dan
I stumbled upon this thread as I believed having the same problem.
So is there a difference in the sound direct from Cubase and from the master?
(No spoiler, read it).
I’m an older sound engineer and a pilot.
And we have a “pilot” issue here. Your senses like to fool you a lot.
Ie.: If you fly nighttime and see a blinking beam ahead, never look directly at it.
Because it will disappear. Your eyes will turn it off and fool you. So look beside.
If you listen to your production in Cubase, there is a lot of action for your eyes.
You will see any base drum hi-hat etc. blinking. Your audio is visible.
And now your desktop turns from big action into a pale spot, just hearing and staring at a little square. That’s your music now. No more 25 led’s flickering, no panic view to the brickwall limiter etc.
So that’s why I do regular temp mixes to hear it from the blank square, and suddenly, your hi-hat is not that crisp anymore? It is. Look beside. Your brain will trick you, hearing the title from the producer view and the consumer view (small square on desktop) is different.
So is there a sound difference direct between Cubase and from your desktop master?
Yes, for the “Department Hearing the Fleas Cough”. As your audio file will be prepared by an audio engine to hand it over to your DA converter in your audio device, this will be better with Cubase as an audio engine underneath, now the audio comes prepared by Mac or Windows in front-end consumer sound.
You prob. never heard Pink Floyd The Wall direct from the SSL console. You only know the final master from your desktop. But you know your Cubase console sound of your mix “and” the final consumer sound. Any other producer shares the same destiny with you.
I just made the test. Direct from Cubase and Master same volume.
Productions and master are always 48khz/24bit (broadcast standard).
There is a bit of transparency and isolated dynamic missing.
Once you leave your DAW you are in consumer quality mode.
Gear here:
Cubase Elements 10.5, Imac i7, Soundcraft Notepad 12FX audio interface, Genelec 8020 & 7040SW monitor.
(Follow me on Bandcamp “Amazone Project”.)
I had the same problem back in 2019/20 and checked this forum. It didn’t solve my problem and I ended up just living with my crappy mix.
Looking back at an old mix today that had the same issue, I started experimenting more and managed to solve the problem with a very stupid solution.
I previously had a limiter on my stereo out and just by disabling that the mix started sounding more accurate during playback.
I had also tried putting the mix back into cubase after export and it was sounding fine while in cubase but as soon as it was heard outside, the audio deterioration would happen.
I had also made sure that there is no interference on the part of my playback softwares.
Putting all of this evidence together, the only thing I can conclude is that for some reason, the limiter placed on the stereo out channel were being ignored during export. I say only limiter and not other things because putting the izotope vinyl on the stereo out was working and was being printed on my export.
I’m by no means an expert in how any of this works but I hope this could help some people solve this problem
I’m not sure what this is supposed to mean, but a wave file is a wave file regardless of what’s playing it back. If there’s an audible difference, either the playback software is altering it (auto gain, EQ, internal sample rate conversion, or such) or you’re using a different D/A converter.
Yeah, I agree with you about the comment regarding ‘consumer quality mode’.
We are not getting a master from an analogue studio and a mastering house with the best speakers in the world.
Of course, in this instance there will be massive differences between the playback in the studio, and the playback at home.
But, this is all digital. Whatever comes out of Cubase should sound the same on your system at least, with playback software that is completely flat.
Thanks, this helped me.
Thanks for this tidbit. It changed everything for me. I also had a limiter on my stereo output. I thought the idea was to prevent redlining and distortion by doing that. It works fine when listening in Cubase, to be sure, but after exporting the sound is lame and I have to turn VLC player up to about 180% to hear the piece properly. I decided to try what you did. I just turned off the limiter and then exported the audio to MP3. After that, the volume was just as one would expect in Cubase. There appears to be no added distortion either. However, when I go back to the file that was just exported, I can see that it has redlined, which makes sense. This solution, however odd, seems to work, though it makes no sense. I have struggled with weak sounding final mixes for years, but now that problem seems to be solved. Thank you so much!
G
I will simplify it using color as a reference so it is easier to understand.
Imagine inside Cubase your mix is Blue. You listen to and make all your decisions mixing, eq, compression, reverb, editing, bass design, mastering according to the color you perceive through your interface and listening device/s.
So your mix in Cubase is Blue but through your interface > headphones or monitors your hearing Blueish / Green.
When you export in your car, home stereo, etc your mix now sounds Green.
Where is the issue ?
The issue is
It is not that Cubase (Blue) is exporting differently (Blue/Green) it is that your mixing/monitoring isnt allowing you to hear Blue, your hearing (Blue/Green).
Hanz Zimmers monitoring allows him to hear exactly what is happening with pure accuracy, so there is no difference to what he decides in his mixes than what exits his sessions.
If your interface or room you monitor in decieves,colors, alters your ability to hear the truth of the Cubase mix, you will not export what is really happening.